Bulletproof Glass
by itsalljustalie
Summary: As the Basterds are on a mission in France, they find a young woman who has just escaped from Nazis and take her with them. Donny is conflicted: he doesn't know how to confess something that will strongly impact the way this girl thinks of him. Donny/OC
1. An Accident

**Author's Note: This is my first fan fiction _ever_! I really loved _Inglourious Basterds_ and was inspired to write this fanfic about it.**

**This first chapter is quite short and I haven't introduced my main character yet, but she'll arrive in the next chapter. I'm not really sure where this story is taking me and I don't know how the romance between Donny and the OC will turn out. I guess we'll see!  
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**I do not own any of the characters in this fiction except my two OC's. Everything else belongs to Quentin Tarantino!**

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July 17th 1942.

The golden fields of southern France looked more beautiful than ever on this hot summer day. While riding along the roads of the peaceful countryside, it was almost impossible to think that there was a war going on. Unfortunately, there was.

It must have been around two in the afternoon when the Basterds' ride came to end. Their truck had stopped in front of a regular size house, typically French, with it's blue window shutters, light stones and brick roof. There was another vehicle a few feet away, clearly belonging to Nazis. This, however, was not a concern.

The Basterd's leader, Lt. Aldo Raine, gave his men a few orders before they came out of the truck. His strong Tennessee accent was his main characteristic, along with the large scar on his neck. He announced nothing new, just the usual routine: they were to kill and scalp every Nazi in the house, with the exception of two of them. The first one would be used for questioning, and if he refused to give answers, he would get beaten to death with a baseball bat. The second Nazi would then answer every one of Raine's questions. He always would.

Luckily for the men, no one inside the house had heard them arrive. They were probably too busy interrogating innocent people or something. The Basterds - there were nine of them in total - silently crept up along the exterior walls of the cottage. They all carried guns, but some had another weapon of choice, such as a knife for Stiglitz or a bat for Donny. Utivich, the smallest of the bunch (they called him the "Little Man") gave them the signal that the coast was clear. Lt. Raine kicked the front door open, and the attack began.

The Basterds tended not to think too much during combat. After all, thinking might have lead to pity and second thoughts. Killing everyone on their way was just easier- unless they spotted civilians. In this case, they would try their best to keep them unharmed until they could interrogate them. Even though most of the civilians that they found were gypsies or Jews, they'd rather not take the risk of letting a German spy go. _That_ would be the end of them.

There must have a little less than a dozen Nazis in the room. With two men to spare, the Basterds could kill about ten men total. Most of the wrongdoers were killed by the first minute of the attack, and the two captives were already being tied up by Hirschberg and Ulmer.

Eying the room for a few seconds while trying to find any remaining live victims, Utivich spotted a young man about his age who wasn't dressed in a Nazi uniform sitting against a wall. He looked severely wounded, tired, beaten. Strangely, his hair was blond, his eyes were bright blue, and his hands weren't tied together. The New-Yorker smiled. _"Can't be any more Arian than that. I wonder what the hell he did to end up like this". _Before Utivich could even walk up and talk to the stranger, he heard a gunshot coming from behind him and saw a stream of blood flowing through the young man's chest. "No!" the soldier yelled. Turning around to see who had done it, Utivich spotted the culprit. As he had expected, it was Donny Donowitz.

"Dammit Donny", he said.

"What?", the other answered. _Any_ American could have recognized the Boston accent that he carried along with him. It didn't give him much class, but added to his whole "Bear Jew" look. He held his sacred bat in his right hand and an AK 47 in the left. Sweat dripped down from his forehead – killing Nazis made him both extremely nervous and excited at the same time.

"That guy's _not_ a Nazi", Utivich explained. Even though Donny was his superior, he still dared to contradict him. They got along pretty well, for the most part.

"So? How can you tell?!"

What could the Bear Jew hate even more than Nazis? Being wrong. Admitting his mistakes was just about the hardest thing for Donny to do.

Hearing the two soldiers bickering, Aldo walked over.

"Now, what you two fightin' 'bout? Ain't there 'nough scalps for all of ya?"

Utivich moved to the side, revealing the corpse of the stranger. He was already dead. The lieutenant kneeled down next to him and searched his pockets. Not finding any wallet or piece of identity, he stood back up.

"Look Donny, 'know this was an accident, but it's still your fault." Aldo turned to the rest of the soldiers. "Check every room, let me know if you see something interestin'. Take any food and supplies ya'll can find. We won't be stayin' here long."

Wicki walked up the stairs first, closely followed by Utivich and Hirschberg. Donny and the others stayed downstairs, opening every cabinet in the kitchen. After all, they were a bit tired of eating rabbit and army biscuits every single day since they'd left their homes.

The first door that the three men came across upstairs was wide open. It looked as though the room had already been searched. Drawers were all over the floor, revealing tons of photos, letters, clothes and documents. The room must have served as a bedroom, perhaps for the young man Donny had just killed. Utivich got shivers just by thinking about it.

Wicki decided that there was nothing important in that bedroom, so the men moved on to the next door. Hirschberg tried turning the doorknob, but it was locked. He took a few steps back and thrust it open.

It only took a few seconds for the three Basterds to realize that they weren't alone in this room.

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**Please review and tell me what you think!**


	2. The Girl Upstairs

**Author's note: I'm glad some people have been enjoying my first chapter! This one is longer and introduced a new character...**

**Have fun reading!**

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There she was, standing only a few feet away from the Basterds. A young woman, laying on the floor.

Neither Wicki, Utivich or Hirschberg knew exactly what to do. The girl wasn't moving, but that didn't necessarily mean that she was dead. Wicki walked up to her and checked her pulse. The other two waited nervously, as if the stranger's fate already mattered to them.

"She's alive", finally spoke Wicki, to the relief of his comrades.

"What do you think happened to her?"

"I don't know. The gunshots don't seem to have waken her up, so she's probably passed out. Call the lieutenant."

Hirschberg ran back downstairs, nearly tripping at the last few steps. All the others stared at him.

"Found anything?" inquired Aldo.

Hirschberg looked half proud, half worried. He didn't know how the lieutenant would take their new discovery.

"Uh, yeah. There are two rooms up there. One's empty, it's been completely searched by the Nazi scum." Hirschberg paused, not knowing how to phrase his next sentence. "And in the second room there's… a woman. We believe that she's alive."

"What? You kiddin' right?"

"No sir, I'm serious. Wicki would like you to take a look for yourself, sir."

Aldo sighed and motioned to Sergeant Donowitz, the second highest rank in the team.

"Donny, come with." He then addressed the others: "The rest of ya'll stay here, keep searchin' for useful stuff. And stay inside the house."

The lieutenant walked up the staircase, lead by Hirschberg and closely followed by Donny, who had managed to wipe some sweat off of his forehead. He and Aldo had never been upstairs, so they quickly glanced at the first bedroom as they walked by. When they got to the second bedroom, Wicki and Utivich were both kneeling near the girl, and looked up to their superiors for orders. Aldo told them to move aside, while Donny leaned against the doorway, still pouting about the accidental murder he had just committed.

Aldo observed the young woman. She was wearing a light summer dress, partly ripped, partly drenched in blood – blood which was probably her own. In fact, she had bruises all over her face, arms and legs. Her lips were dry and bleeding. And even though she had no severe wound, she was still in a pretty dreadful state. The lieutenant looked for a David's star on her neck, but there was none. He didn't find a Catholic cross either, which was a strange thing. Unable to decide if she was a friend or foe, Aldo rolled up his sleeves. Utivich and Wicki stared at him curiously. What was he about to do?

Lt. Raine raised his right arm, and slapped the girl straight across the face. He then did this a second time, as if the first wasn't enough. The young woman slowly opened her eyes, and stood up immediately when she realized that she was surrounded by four men (she hadn't even seen Donny at the door yet). She looked as though she really wanted to say something, but it was the man who had woken her up who spoke first.

"English?" he asked.

Before answering him, the girl looked at his uniform. It didn't look Nazi. And the fact that he spoke English couldn't be a bad thing. She could tell from his accent that he wasn't a Brit, and came to the conclusion that he was probably an American.

"_Je…oui_. A little."

Utivich smiled. She had probably only taken English classes at school, and had a strong French accent while speaking it.

"Good." Aldo seemed more at ease. "Now, I know you wanna get cleaned up and all, but I got a few questions to ask ya, if that's fine with you. Wicki here speaks French, so if you wanna answer me in French, he'll translate. Okay?"

The girl nodded. She had understood most of that.

"What's yer name?"

Basic question, it didn't take her a long time to reply.

"Lucie."

"Lucie. Well that's nice."

She found the way he pronounced her name to be quite funny. It sounded like "Lew-see". She guessed that's how they said it, wherever he came from. She couldn't understand why he hadn't presented himself. She was unaware of the fact that he didn't trust her yet.

"So, Lucie. I want you to tell me your story. Who are you, what happened to you, and all that kinda stuff."

Lucie looked at Aldo while she talked in her native language, even though she understood that Wicki would be the one translating. She wanted this man to know that she was being entirely truthful.

"_Je m'appelle Lucie, j'ai vingt-quatre ans_." God, she thought. This felt like first grade all over again. "_Cela fait un an que je cache des Juifs dans ma cave. Hier, des SS sont arrivés ici et les ont trouvés. Ils les ont tous…_"

The girl stopped and looked down in shame. She buried her head in her hands, while Wicki started to translate for the others.

"Her name is Lucie, she's twenty-four. She's been hiding Jews in her basement for a year now. Yesterday, a bunch of SS arrived and found them. They…deported them all?"

Wicki looked at the girl for approval. He had taken a guess as to what the end of her unfinished sentence might be. She stood straighter and softly replied "_Oui._"

"I see", said Aldo. "We'll check this basement later. I wanna make sure it's not imaginary."

The lieutenant paused and looked around the room. When his eyes crossed Donny's, he got inspired for his next question: "Who's the guy downstairs? Blonde, blue eyes, 'bout your age? He you're husband? Brother?"

The girl quickly babbled an answer in French. She paused before asking something quite nervously.

"_Est-ce…est-ce qu'il va bien?_"

"He was her best friend, his name was Victor", translated Wicki. "They lived together, he helped her to hide the Jews and take care of them. To avoid suspicion, they made people believe that they were married." He pointed to the ring on her right hand in explanation. "She…she wants to know if he's okay."

There was an awkward silence in the bedroom. Lucie knew that something wasn't right. The fact that her translator was speaking about Victor in the past tense did not go unnoticed. Suddenly, she stood up, slightly wobbly at first because of her wounded legs. She steadily made her way towards the door, but was stopped by Donny who was intentionally blocking her way. She tried pushing him to get through, in vain. The Bear Jew was at least twice her bodyweight, and stood there as firm as a rock.

"Donny, let her out." It wasn't Aldo gave this order, but Utivich. He knew Lucie wouldn't try to escape and that she just wanted to look for Victor. Reluctantly, Donny moved aside and the girl was able to leave the room. She sped down the stairs and arrived in the living room. Barely taking notice of the small crowd of strangers occupying her home, Lucie spotted Victor's lifeless body and ran up to it. When she saw the flow of blood coming out of his chest, she slowly knelt down, sobbing softly. Aldo, Utivich, Donny, Wicki and Hirschberg came down as well, while the other men gave them confused looks.

"Victor…" Lucie murmured. She held his cold hand tightly. Utivich knelt beside her and lay an arm on her shivering shoulder.

Meanwhile, Stiglitz walked up to Aldo.

"Is she on our side?" he asked, eying the girl coldly.

"Yea, I'm pretty sure she is. 'Said there's a basement in the house and that she kept Jews in 'ere until yesterday. You seen a basement anywhere?"

"Ulmer found a trap door under this rug right here."

Stiglitz lifted a small rug to reveal, as he had said, a trap door. Aldo glanced at it before bending over and reaching for the handle. He pulled and the door opened, disclosing a metal ladder leading to this underground room. "After you", he said, inviting Stiglitz to go down first. Aldo followed after him, making sure not to step on the soldier's fingers. Once he touched ground, Stiglitz searched his pocket and opened his lighter.

The two men found themselves in a large room, about the size of a tennis court. There were about ten twin-sized beds in there, and a few suitcases. Just like the bedroom on the second floor, this basement had been completely searched and ravaged. Stiglitz walked around, looking for any useful object that he might find. On one of the beds, he grabbed a small teddy bear, which must have belonged to a child. He found that most of the suitcases were empty, and concluded that valuables had probably been stolen by the SS. At least twenty people had been living down there, and not just for a couple of days.

A few moments later, he and Aldo climbed back up the ladder and into the living room. Donny was sitting on a couch, swinging his bat around and throwing sinister glances at anyone who might have dared to look him in the eyes. Most of the other guys were whispering to each other, while Utivich and Lucie were still kneeling next to the corpse.

"Troop, listen up!" Aldo called out, silencing everyone and grabbing their attention. "And for the love of God, Donny, will ya stop playin' 'round with that bat? It's makin' me nautious." Donny didn't look up to his superior, but stopped the bat anyway. It wasn't worth arguing with Aldo.  
"As you've noticed", continued the lieutenant, "we have a new member in our group. Boys, this is Lucie. We gotta keep her safe for now, or she'll probably be hunted down by Nazi's when they find out that she's escaped. We're leaving in 'bout fifteen minutes, so gather your stuff. Utivich, take Lucie here up to her room and help her pack. Meet us down here when you're ready."

Utivich knew it was hard for Lucie to mourn her friend's death so quickly. His own wife had died in a fire about two years ago, and it had taken him a long time to accept it. He stood up and held a hand out to the girl. She slowly reached for it and stood up, still wiping tears from her eyes. Lucie had understood what Aldo had asked and went upstairs to her bedroom, Utivich right behind her.

Lucie grabbed a bag from her closet and dropped it on her bed, where the soldier sat down. He was about to ask her if she needed help, until he realized that he hadn't even presented himself.

"I'm Smithson, by the way. Smithson Utivich."

Lucie, who was already taking clothes out of her chest-drawer in piling them in her bag, looked at Utivich and weakly returned his smile.

"We're known as the Inglourious Basterds - but we call ourselves Basterds for short. We're good guys, you're in the right hands."

"I know who you are", she replied softly.

He then suggested that she bring a warm blanket, because they wouldn't have enough for an extra person.  
Once she was done packing, she put on a pair of boots, but her hands were in such pain that she couldn't manage to ties the shoelaces. Noticing her difficulty, the soldier offered to tie them for her.  
When she seemed ready to go, Utivich started to close the bag.  
"Wait", she stopped him. Lucie left the room and came back a minute later, with a photograph in her hands. It showed Victor and her, laughing in a sunflower field. _Well that's cute_, thought Utivich as he smiled. Lucie put the photograph in her bag and the soldier closed it.

"You ready?"

"Yes", she answered.

Hirschberg was waiting for them downstairs. Lucie took one last look at her home and noticed that Victor's sad-looking corpse was still on the ground. She pointed to it, asking the soldiers what they were going to do with her friend's body.

"We have to leave it as it is. We can't let the Nazis know that we were here", explained Hirschberg. "I'm sorry."

The three of them left the house and made their way to the Basterds' truck. All of the others were already settled, and Wicki helped Lucie to climb in. She sat between him and Utivich. Donny was right across from the young woman, but not once did he glance at her. His cold attitude made Lucie feel like she had done something bad to him, but she didn't know what it could be. After all, she had barely met him.

The truck was quite unstable, but Lucie managed to fall asleep after a few minutes. She was exhausted after all of those hours of questioning and torture which she had endured. Her head lay very softly on Wicki's shoulder, and it didn't bother him at all. The Basterds drove for about four hours before stopping. Lucie woke up abruptly, a big hand shaking her shoulder forcefully.

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**That's it for now! Please review, I really value your constructive criticism.**


	3. Babysitting

**Author's Note: I had a hard time finishing this chapter, and I'm really starting to doubt the way that I'm making Donny act with Lucie. He either needs to be really tough or really nice with her, but right now he's sort of in between...**

**This is why your reviews and constructive criticism are strongly appreciated! :) I'm going to need a lot of encouragement to start the next chapter.**

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"Hey! Get up!"

Lucie opened her eyes and rubbed them with her bloody hands. Once she was somewhat more awake, her vision became clear and she was able to recognize the large silhouette standing above her. It was Donny. Out of all of the soldiers in the troop, it just _had_ to be him.

Quite visibly, Donny Donowitz was not pleased to see Lucie either. He grabbed her arm tightly and dragged her out of the vehicle. The truck had stopped in a vast forest. Lucie didn't know where she was. After all, they could have been in any forest in France, since they all looked the same. She spotted a few other Basterds setting up tents nearby. A few feet away, there was some sort of abandoned bridge, covered by plants.

Lucie's arm was really starting to hurt. As if it wasn't infected enough, Donny was squeezing it with his dirty fingers. She could feel her blood pulsing pretty fast.

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_A few minutes earlier…_

Donny was about to step out of the truck, when the lieutenant stopped him.

"Wait up, Donowitz."  
"What?"  
"I'm puttin' you in charge o' the girl. Understood?"  
"You have to be goddam shittin' me…_sir_."

Aldo looked at Donny very seriously. He was not kidding.

"She's just a girl Donowitz. Treat her wounds, feed her and make sure she doesn't go anywhere, okay? And if she gives you any trouble, deal with it yerself. I ain't the police, I'm your damn lieutenant. Tomorrow we'll put her to work. We gotta have something for her to do. Who knows, maybe she's a good cook."

Aldo jumped out of the truck, grinning as Donny was out of his sight. Annoying the sergeant was one of his favorite activities. Meanwhile, Donowitz stared at Lucie's frail body. She was still sleeping then, her chest slowly coming up and down as she breathed softly. He didn't care what the hell she was dreaming about, all he knew was that she had ruined his day. Donny took the girl's shoulders and shook them violently.

The Bear Jew was furious. After all, he was the second highest rank of the Basterds, so why would he have to babysit? Utivich or Ulmer seemed fit for the job. But Aldo had his reason: he wanted to see how long it would take for Donny to tell Lucie what he had done. He wanted to watch him be tortured with guilt. And most importantly, he wanted Donny to apologize.

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Donny, still fuming with rage, dragged Lucie down a small hill, heading towards the tents. She nearly tripped on a few branches, getting even more bruises on her legs. He stopped next to a tent that must have been his, and motioned to a rock nearby.

"Sit," he commanded Lucie, who didn't dare disagree and sat on the rock. Since the day before, she had become used to being treated like a dog. However, it somewhat annoyed her that Donny didn't show any more care for her than the Nazis did.

Donowitz walked up to Utivich, who wasn't far off, and Lucie saw them talking. Utivich searched his bag and handed some sort of pouch to Donny, who then came back to Lucie. She looked at him, trying to figure out what he was going to do next. He simply sat down beside her and opened the pouch. It was filled with bandages and bottles that looked like disinfectants. Lucie was relieved: who knew what the Bear Jew could do to her?

Without even asking for her permission, Donny took her arm and dabbed a piece of alcohol-filled gauze on it. Lucie wasn't quite ready for this sudden sting.

"Aïe!" she yelled as she yanked her arm away from Donny.  
"What? It hurts?" Donowitz chuckled and started addressing her in a childish voice. "Oh look, the poor little baby has a booboo..."

He suddenly stopped his teasing. Even though she was looking away from him, he saw her eyes filling up with tears. Perhaps he had gone too far.

"Look," Donny continued in a more gentle voice. "Just please give me your arm. I promise I won't do that again. You're gonna get infected if we don't do anything soon."

Lucie, still avoiding Donny's eye contact, reached her arm out and put it back in his care. He started to clean her wounds again, this time in a softer way that was less painful for the girl. Occasionally, she would twitch or clench her teeth, but she still let him treat her. In about a half hour, Donowitz had managed to mend all of the wounds on her arms, legs and back (she had reluctantly let him unbutton her dress). None of her injuries were fatal. In fact, most of her cuts and bruises were mild ones. It was the quantity of wounds that shocked Donny the most. The poor girl had been hit way too many times by those sonuvabitches.

By the look of it, Lucie had probably been violently slapped around by the Nazis. Her cheeks were red and puffy, and there was dried blood under her nose. Donowitz took some cream out of the first aid pouch and he applied it carefully on her face. He glanced at her as he did so, noticing for the first time how charming she looked. Lucie was not what Donnie and his friends back in Boston would have qualified as "hot". Her beauty was much more subdued. She had these big hazel eyes and dark brown hair, which contrasted with her soft pale skin. He could tell that she was a shy girl – totally not his type.

"There ya go. All done." Donowitz stood up and put the bottles of disinfectant away.

Lucie could still feel the alcohol burning on her skin, but told herself that it was for her own good. She thanked Donny with a week smile, too scared to verbally address him.

"Hey Donny!" Aldo's voice called out. "Dinner time. Bring your lazy ass and the girl over here, will ya?"

The Bear Jew grunted. He offered his hand to Lucie to help her stand. She stared at it for a few seconds, wondering why he hadn't grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the campfire yet, like he had done to get her out of the truck. She finally put her hand in his, but immediately let go once that she was up. Even though her legs were a bit shaky, Lucie could still walk. She and Donny joined the other soldiers, sitting around a campfire. It had gotten quite dark outside, and then sun was almost done setting. It had gotten chilly and the fire made Lucie feel a lot warmer.

Utivich, friendly as usual, made room for Lucie on the log on which he was sitting. She dropped herself next to him.

"Donny didn't kill you yet, that's a good sign," the soldier pointed out jokingly.  
"Nah, he prefers to torment his victims before doing anything fatal to 'em," added Aldo, putting a piece of bread to his mouth.

The Bear Jew grunted, clearly not amused by his comrades' sense of humor. He gave Lucie a dark glare, one that made her look away at once.

Lucie didn't get as much food as the Basterds. This was not a concern for her because she wasn't extremely hungry. Water was what she needed more than anything, although none of the men had offered her any. Too scared to ask, she let her horrible thirst linger in her mouth. It was not a good feeling.

The men sat around joyfully around the campfire, talking and eating. Lucie's head started spinning. She was parched and exhausted. Stiglitz must have taken notice of this, because he elbowed Donny and pointed at Lucie, showing him how tired she looked. The girl saw a silhouette coming towards her and pulling her arm. She stood up, too dizzy to say goodnight or even look at the Basterds still around the campfire.

Donny took her back to his tent, where he had set up another pillow next to his own. He helped Lucie lie down and opened her bag, searching for something to keep her warm. When he found the blanket that she had brought, he carefully laid it on her. By the time Donny turned the light off and lay on his own cot, the girl was fast asleep.


	4. Pride & Prejudice

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I've struggled writing this chapter. I hope it's not too much of a filler.**

** Your reviews are extremely appreciated and help me write faster!**

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July 18th, 1942.

Lucie woke up slowly the next morning. She could hear the distant sounds of birds chirping, which reminded her that she was in a forest and not in her comfortable bed. She turned to her side and noticed that Donny was no longer lying next to her. The girl painfully crawled out of the tent, her wounded hands still recovering.

She covered her eyes as she opened the flaps of the tent, the sunshine still too bright for them. Lucie stood up and looked around. A few feet away, Aldo was reading over some sort of document with Stiglitz and Wicki. To her right, Hirschberg and Utivich were sitting on a log, laughing. When they noticed that the girl was awake, they smiled at her.

"Sleep well?" asked Utivich.

Lucie nodded. She was surprised that she hadn't been cold or had any nightmares during the night. Perhaps this was because she was in a deep sleep.

She walked towards the two young men. She coughed softy and spoke to them for the first time since they had left her house, her throat clearly dry.

"May I please have some water?" she asked shyly with her cute accent.

Utivich and Hirschberg glanced at each other, almost surprised to hear her voice. Then, Hirschberg quickly grabbed his flask from his backpack and handed it to Lucie. She was extremely thirsty and nearly drank all of the water from it. The girl then felt a bit embarrassed because there were only a few drops of water left when she handed it back to the soldier. He laughed. "Well, someone was thirsty!"

"Thank you", said Lucie, blushing.

Before they had time to engage a proper conversation, Lucie felt a hand on her back.

"Mornin' sunshine." It was the lieutenant. Even thought the girl knew that he meant her no harm, she was still quite intimidated by his presence. She turned around and looked at him.

"You might wanna go check on Donny, we wouldn't want him to be worried 'bout ya now, would we?" He smiled at her. Lucie knew that he was only teasing. The last thing that Donny wanted was probably to take care of Lucie, let alone to even see her. "He's over there. If he asks, I sent you, okay?"

The girl looked at Aldo, and then directed herself towards the area where he had pointed. She walked a few meters until she found Donny. The Bear Jew was sitting, his back against a tree, reading a book. The _Bear Jew_, reading a book. Lucie was surprised – Donny didn't look like a book-reading type of guy. As she got closer, she could read the title. _Pride and Prejudice_. She had no idea what those two words meant. She crouched down next to Donny. She knew that he had noticed her presence, but he was pretending not to see her on purpose.

They sat there together for a while, until Donowitz, still not looking up from his book, asked: "The fuck do you want?"

Lucie, not shocked by his rudeness, replied: "Aldo told me to some 'ere." Seeing that this answer had no effect on the man, she continued. "But I can leave if you want."

Donny grunted. "You can stay", he growled almost inaudibly. He kept on reading for a while, Lucie still by his side. She was looking over his shoulder, trying to understand a few sentences from the book. Moments later, the Bear Jew closed _Pride and Prejudice_, looked sideways and smirked as he saw Lucie.

"You look awful."

The girl gave him a questioning look. She didn't know what "awful" meant. Four years of English classes hadn't taught her enough words for her to speak the language fluently. Noticing her incomprehension, Donny tried his making his comment once more.

"You look…bad. Not good."

Finally understanding what he was trying to say, Lucie let out a little laugh. She hadn't seen herself in front of a mirror or showered for nearly two days. Even though her wounds had been disinfected, she still had some blood left on her skin. Her hair was also quite tangled, which somewhat annoyed Donny because he owned a small barbershop back in Boston. His father had taken care of the place ever since he had left to France.

"There's a river over there", Donowitz pointed. "You can clean yourself up if you want. Just stay alert."

Lucie looked to where he was pointing and nodded. She went back to the tent and grabbed a dress and a hairbrush from her bag. The girl then made her way to the said river, took her bloody dress and worn boots off and put a foot in the water. It wasn't too cold, probably because it was mid-summer. Even without using soap, Lucie's whole body was stung like crazy. She floated in the water for awhile, trying to brush the dried blood off of herself. The girl then came out of the water, got dressed a white floral frock and put her dark brown boots back on. She then brushed her wet hair. This took her a while for it was full of knots. Once that this was done, she felt much cleaner.

A few moments later, Lucie directed herself to the tree where the Bear Jew had been sitting, but didn't find him there. A bit disappointed, she continued to the Basterds campsite. He was just outside of his tent, cleaning his bat with a piece of cloth.

When Donny saw Lucie arriving, he smirked again. It was very rare for him to actually smile – grinning was something that came to him more naturally.

"Better", he commented. "Now you actually look like a girl."

_I'm not a girl,_ Lucie thought while sitting next to him. _I'm twenty-six for christsake! He could call me a woman_. Just as she said this to herself, she saw Donny's hand coming up towards her face. She instinctively put her arm up to cover it, afraid that he would hit her.

"Hey!" he said pulling her arm away from her face. "Calm down, I was just gonna straighten your bangs out. You're acting like such a goddam animal."

Donny, still not letting go of Lucie's arm, softly took the shorter strands of her hair and arranged them on her forehead, now making it clear that she had bangs. Surprised by this gentle act, the girl put her arm down and laid it on her lap.

The soldier stared at her for a little while. Her eyes were observing Utivich and Ulmer who were playfully teasing each other. Even though Lucie smiled as Ulmer threw water at Utivich and Aldo yelled at the both of them, Donny could still see that she was in pain, both on the inside and out. He hadn't dared address her about the subject of Victor's death yet. _It's too early_, he said to himself._ And she's so frail. You wouldn't want her to start crying again, would you?_

He had also noticed that she never looked at him in the eye. Did he intimidate her? Surely this was a good thing. After all, Donowitz had to keep his proud reputation as the Bear Jew. But did Lucie really think that he would hurt her? Perhaps she was still damaged by what the Nazis had done to her. The girl's traumatizing experience could definitely explain her reaction towards men. However, she was still friendly with Utivich, Wicki, Hirschberg and Ulmer, so why was Donny being treated like such a hostile? He needed a way to show her that she was wrong about him, and that he was not the merciless beast that she thought he was.

Before Donowitz could pursue his mental debate, he saw Aldo calling out to his scattered soldiers, asking them to join him. He took Lucie by wrist once more, leading her to where the others were.

The men were all gathered around in a circle, Lieutenant Raine visibly discussing something with them. Lucie awkwardly stared at Aldo, wondering whether or not she was allowed to sit with the men while they were having this sort of meeting.

"Well", the leader said pulling a cigarette out of his right pocket. "Whatcha waitin' for? You gonna sit here and talk with us or what?"

Seeing that she wouldn't really have a choice anyway, Lucie dropped herself on the floor next to Wicki, who smiled at her kindly.

"So Lucie, you know anything 'bout killin' Nazis? Cuz that's what we do. We capture 'em, we kill 'em, we scalp 'em...and occasionally we let one or two go with a special treat." Aldo chuckled, and so did the others.

The girl shook her head. She certainly knew about Nazis killing people, but she had never seen anyone killing a Nazi. Actually, she thought that this wouldn't have been an unpleasant sight to watch.

"Well, you don't look like much of a killer anyways." The lieutenant held up his lighter and lit his cigarette, taking a long smoke. Lucie hated it when people smoked, but she kept this to herself. "So boys, tomorrow we're gonna stop a truckfull or two o' Krauts - an' y'all know the rest of the drill. I wanna know how many other krauts and what kind of artillery they usin' in the orchard a few miles from 'ere."

Ulmer, the young and curious private soldier that he was, couldn't help but ask: "And what's so important about this orchard? I mean, we could just continue to someplace else." Seeing the lieutenant's menacing look, Ulmer quickly added a "sir".

"Well Omar, that's a good question right here. Donny, why don'tcha answer that for 'im?"

Sergeant Donowitz smirked again. "Because, Omar, one of the biggest krauts in the world could be hiding precisely in the cottage next to that orchard. All we gotta know is if there's enough of us to take them."

"How do you know that this guy is over there in the first place?" inquired Smithson.

"It's a rumor I heard at a bar in the last village we went to", explained Wicki. Because of the fact that he understood French perfectly, the Austrian soldier was able to hear the rumors running in French bars without the locals knowing.

"Oh, so now I know what you do while we're on lookout! You go to _bars_...Why can't we go to goddam bars?"

"Cuz Donowitz, as far as I know, ya don't speak a single word of French. Why don'tcha let Lucie here teach ya, then we'll talk 'bout going to bars."

Donny looked away angrily while everyone laughed. Even the girl, who had understood most of their exchange, had a smile on her face. Now that the conversation had loosened up a bit, Lucie decided to speak. She took a deep breath before talking slowly, choosing her words as she translated them from French to English in her head.

"Zees Nazi you are looking for, what eez his name?"

Aldo chuckled, almost mocking her. "Why sweetheart? You plannin' a vendetta or somethin'?" As Lucie gave him a serious look, he decided to answer her. After all, none of the Basterds except Donowitz, Wicki and Stiglitz knew whom this "big kraut" was.

"We're looking for Landa. Colonel Hans Landa of the SS. He's the fuckin' Jew Hunter everyone's been fussin' 'bout."

Lucie's jaw dropped. "_Landa?_" she asked again, even though she had heard the lieutenant perfectly clear.

"Yea, you heard me. What, you know him from somewhere?"

Oh yes. Lucie knew _exactly_ who the Jew Hunter was.

* * *

**Thoughts?**


	5. A Drink With the Hunter

**Author's Note: Not too many reviews on the last chapter...oh well.**

**I hope you guys like this one! I speak fluent French, but the German translations are (unfortunately) curtsy of Google.**

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**July 16th, 1942.**

It was the day before the Basterds had found her. Rain was pouring heavily on the roof of Lucie and Victor's home. They were both sitting on their living room couch, the young man reading a book and the young woman thinking, her eyes focused on the window facing her. She hated the thunder and apprehended the next lightening strike. She counted the seconds – one, two, three, four, five, six – and slightly shifted as came the roar.

"_Ça va__?"_ asked Victor, putting his book down and glancing at his friend.

Lucie nodded even though she wasn't fine and he knew it. Victor had known that she was mortified of thunderstorms ever since they were children. He had abandoned explaining to her that they weren't dangerous for a long time then.

Victor picked up his book again and quickly went back to being absorbed by its content. Lucie still looked out the window as she did before. This time however, she saw something quite different from lightening.

"Victor!" she gasped, quickly putting a hand on his arm.

"_Quoi?"_

"_Regarde dehors!"_ ("Look outside!")

It didn't take the man long to see what had made Lucie panic: there were two Nazi trucks and one car parked ride outside of their cottage.

"_Merde."_

That one word pretty much summed up their situation: they were screwed. With a little over a dozen Jews hiding in their basement, it was not exactly the best time to be visited by SS officers. Victor stood up and walked toward a nearby rug. He walked a few times over it, making sure that the trap door that it was hiding could not be seen. When he turned around, Lucie was standing behind him. She looked frightened. Her dark eyes expectantly stared into his blue ones, waiting for what they would do next. The young man had seen this look countless times before. He had loved Lucie as more than a friend a few years back, but they now slept in different rooms and lived their own separate lives. Even though their romantic relationship had turned into a friendship, they were still extremely close and understood each other like lovers did.

Victor had already discussed with her what they would do in case they found themselves in a dangerous situation like this one. They would keep their mouths shut, no matter what. They were in this together and it was too late to back up.

"_Ne leur dis rien. Tu me l'a promis."_ (Don't tell them anything. You promised.")

Of course Lucie wouldn't tell the Nazis anything. But this was easier said than done. You never knew what those monsters could do to get information out of you. If you were too nice with them, they would suspect something. If you were too cold with them, they would also suspect something. It was a vicious circle in which staying in the center was the safest solution.

There was a knock on the door. Neither of the two moved. After the second knock however, Lucie slowly approached the door. She took a deep breath and turned the handle, pulling towards her as she did so. As the door opened, the girl saw a man standing on their threshold. His leather coat was soaking wet, and so were his Nazi boots. He looked like he was in his fifties, at least. Lucie didn't think he seemed particularly menacing – until she remembered that the man was a SS. Before she could open her mouth to speak, he took off his hat and introduced himself.

"_Bonjour mademoiselle. Laissez-moi me presenter: je suis le colonel Hans Landa de la SS. Etes-vous bien Lucie Renault? Comme la voiture n'est-ce pas?"_ ("Good afternoon, miss. Let me introduce myself: I am colonel Hans Landa of the SS. Are you Lucie Renault? Like the car, if I am correct?")

Lucie nodded. Renault wasn't her name. It was Victor's, but she had somewhat gotten used to the idea that they were supposedly married. The colonel's French was quite remarkable, and one would have barely been able to tell that he was in fact German. She didn't invite Landa inside, because this would have been an extremely unnatural thing to do.

"_Puis-je rentrer s'il vous plait? J'ai quelques questions à vous poser. Cela ne prendra pas trop de temps."_ ("Will you please let me inside? I have a few questions to ask you. I won't be long.")

_He better not wet my floor with his fucking Nazi boots_, Lucie thought to herself as she moved aside to let him in. To her great surprise, Landa took his boots off and left them outside.

"_Je ne voudrais pas tremper votre magnifique parquet",_ he explained with a smile. ("I wouldn't want to ruin your beautiful floor.")

Seeing Victor standing a few feet away from him, Landa took a hand out to shake the boy's.

"_Ah! Vous devez etre Victor! Je suis le colonel Landa de la SS."_ ("Oh! You must be Victor! I am colonel Landa of the SS.") Victor had perfectly heard Landa the first time that he had introduced himself to Lucie, and couldn't understand why in the world he would need to do so a second time.

Lucie stayed by the entrance of their home, not moving one bit. Victor took the situation in charge – he was terribly good at pretending to be nice with the people whom he dreaded the most.

"_Asseyez-vous, colonel. Faites commes chez vous."_ ("Take a seat, colonel. Make yourself at home.") There was a fake warm tone in the young man's voice and Lucie could hear it. Landa, however, did not notice this one bit and sat on one of the dining room chairs.

"_Lucie, pourrais-tu nous servir quelque chose à boire?"_ ("Lucie, could you please bring us something to drink?") The girl went inside the kitchen, disappearing out of sight as Victor joined Landa at their table.

"_Connaissez-vous le motif de ma visite?"_ ("Do you know why I'm here?") the colonel asked.

Victor chose his words carefully and spoke in a slow pace, making pauses between sentences.

"_Vous etes le chasseur de Juifs. Tout le monde a entendu parler de vous."_ ("You're the Jew Hunter. Everyone's heard of you.")

"_C'est exact. Je fais la tournée des maisons aux alentours, au cas où des Juifs se cacheraient par ici."_ ("That's exact. I'm going around the houses in the neighborhood, in case Jews would be hiding here.")

Landa paused as he saw Lucie arriving with two glasses of water. She gently put one down in front of Victor and nearly slammed the one for Landa on the table. She then pulled a chair out next to her friend and sat down. The officer saw her putting her hand in Victor's and gripping it tightly under the table.

"_Auriez-vous du lait?"_ suddenly asked Landa. Rage was growing inside of Lucie's chest. How _dare_ he ask for milk, when he perfectly knew that every single man and woman in France had been living on bread and water for the past two years?

"_C'est la guerre, colonel, nous ne vivons pas sur une ferme."_ ("This is war, colonel, we don't live on a farm."_)_ Lucie replied this coldly. She thought that it would shut the Nazi up for a while, but this only made him keep speaking.

"_Monsieur et Madame Renault_", he started. _"Cachez-vous des Juifs dans votre maison?"_

Of course they were hiding Jews in their house. In fact, they were staying right below Landa's own feet.

"_Non_", simply answered Lucie. Victor repeated what she had just said. The girl was holding his hand even tighter than before, but they both kept their calm.

Landa sighed. He must have been used to this kind of answer. They always said no the first time.

"_Je vais vous reposer cette même question. Cette fois, vous allez me dire la vérité et bien réfléchir avant de me répondre un mensonge. C'est votre dernière chance. Ensuite, je ferais venir mes soldats et ils feront une petite inspection. Si nous ne trouvons rien, alors je serais désolé de vous avoir dérangé. Si nous trouvons quelque chose, même une toute petite preuve que des Juifs sont passés par ici, alors vous serez très bientôt en train de me supplier de vous tuer. Essayons donc une fois de plus: cachez-vous des Juifs dans votre maison?"_

("I will ask you this question again. This time, you will tell me the truth and think carefully before you give me a lie. This is your last chance. Then, I will call my soldiers and they'll come in here for a little inspection. If we do not find anything, then I will be sorry to have disturbed you. If we do find something, even the tiniest piece of evidence that Jews have been here, then you'll be wishing you were dead. Now let's try this one more time: are you hiding Jews in your home?")

Victor and Lucie didn't look at each other to agree for an answer. This would have shown a sign of weakness.

_"Non"_, they firmly proclaimed together.

_"Bien."_

Landa stood, putting his hat back on. He walked to the door, opened it and called something out to his Nazi soldiers. Seconds later, a dozen men had entered the living room and were starting to search the place. Meanwhile, Landa was peacefully putting his boots on, as though this procedure was normal to him.

Lucie felt tears filling her eyes. But they weren't only tears of fear. They were tears of many things. Guilt, anger, sadness…it was all her fault that the Jews were going to die. At this point, their fate had already been set out for them. There was no way that the SS could have missed the basement trap door. They wouldn't have had to look long to find it.

Two of the SS went upstairs. Victor and Lucie could hear the sound of drawers opening, being thrown on the floor and searched frantically.

Lucie returned her attention to the dozen SS that had stayed downstairs. Her chest was pounding as they walked around, touching the walls, looking inside kitchen cupboards, going through papers. Her hand was sweaty, but she still hadn't let go of Victor. When one of the men lifted the rug, revealing the trap door that led to the basement, the girl's heart sunk. The solider said something to Landa in German, telling him that he had made a discovery. Some discovery indeed, for it basically guaranteed the death of sixteen people: fourteen innocent Jews and two good willing Christians.

Lucie couldn't really remember what had happened next. There was the screaming and the crying. Then there were the fourteen people, including five young children, processing through her own living room and exiting out of the front door. Even through her tears, the girl had seen them. She didn't dare look at the Jews in the eyes. She was too ashamed. She had tried so hard to help them but had failed miserably. A few moments after they were all out, Lucie heard one of the trucks leaving. Only ten of the SS soldiers had remained in the house. The rest of them were gone.

"_Si j'avais été vous, j'aurais dit la vérité__."_ ("If I were you, I would have told the truth.") Lucie and Victor had almost forgotten Landa's presence. He used a playful tone, as though deporting Jews was only a game to him. He had an evil grin that could have scared the hell out of just about anyone.

"_Salaud! Ça vous fait plaisir de faire souffrir les gens? Que vous ont-ils fait, les Juifs?"_ ("You asshole! Does it make you happy to see others in pain? Did the ever Jews do anything to you?")

Landa paid no attention to Lucie's comment. Instead, he acted as though she hadn't just insulted him. He called out to one of his soldiers, who walked up to Lucie, grabbed her arm and threw her on the ground. She didn't stand back up or try to fight the man, too startled to even move. Victor got up from his chair and reached his arm out to help his friend up, but stopped as he heard the sound of a gun clicking.

"_Je ne ferais pas ca si j'étais vous."_ ("I wouldn't do that if I were you.")

Victor looked at Landa, who was still sitting peacefully, a gun in his hand pointing directly at Lucie's chest. The Nazi motioned the young man to sit back down. Victor had no choice but to comply.

"_A présent, M. Renault, je vais vous poser quelques questions. Si vous refusez de répondre ou essayez de me mentir, votre femme en subira les conséquences."_ ("Now, Mr. Renault. I will ask you a few more questions. If you do not answer or even dare try to lie to me, your wife will suffer the consequences.")

Lucie pleadingly looked at Victor, begging him to keep his mouth shut. They were in this together. They had promised to remain silent until the end.

"_Commencons."_ ("So, let us begin"), said Landa as he took a small notebook out of his pocket and started writing. _"Depuis combien de temps cachez-vous des ennemis du gouvernement dans votre cave?"_ ("For how long have you been hiding ennemies of the state in your basement?")

"_Si ce sont des Juifs que vous parlez, alors ils ne sont pas des ennemis du gouvernement."_ ("If it is the Jews that you speak of, then they are not ennemies of the state.")

"_Kappel, schlagen_," ordered Landa.

The so-called Kappel, who had thrown Lucie on the ground, violently kicked the girl in the stomach. She couldn't help but scream as her air was knocked out of her. Lucie rolled to the side, clutching her abdomen in pain.

"_Alors?"_

Victor looked back to Lucie, but her eyes once again told him to keep quiet – and so he did.

"_Schlug sie ernut."_

Even though neither of the two knew how to speak German, they still had an idea of what these three words meant.

Once again, Kappel kicked Lucie with his heavy black boots. This time however, she was somewhat prepared. She clenched her teeth, absorbing the pain.

"Essayons une autre question." ("Lets try another question.")

Victor looked shamefully at the floor. Lucie was being tortured because of him. He could just tell Landa what he wanted, and perhaps he would let his best friend go.

"Combien de Juifs avez vous gardé ici? Il y en a certainement eu plus que la douzaine que nous avons trouvé aujourd'hui…" ("How many Jews have you kept here in total? Surely, you've kept more than the twelve that we discovered today.")

"_Mélez-vous de vos putains oignons."_ (Mind your own fucking business.") Victor spat this out with a great deal of hate. His clear eyes now looked straight into Landa's, challenging them. The SS acted as though he wasn't shocked by the young man's outburst and rudeness. He answered tauntingly, the same way that a father would reprimand a child.

"_Allons, Mr. Renault. Pourquoi des mots si méchants?"_ ("Now, now, Mr. Renault. Why such foul words?") Landa snickered before once again giving out an order to his soldier.

Kappel seized Lucie by the dress and pinned her against a wall. She tried getting out of his tight grip, without success. The SS soldier brought a hand up and slapped her straight across the face, leaving a red replica of his hand on her pale cheek. Following Landa's command, he repeated this gesture on the girl's other cheek, until this one was a red as the first.

The SS then punched her so hard that Lucie felt her head spinning and blood trickling down from her nose to her lips. Kappel let go of her, making her fall on the ground. A few more blows followed. Before she knew it, Lucie was laying unconscious on the ground.


	6. Bonding

**Author's Note:** Well, here it is! I'm so sorry for the wait, it feels like ages since I've written about Lucie. Since it's been a while, I suggest that you re-read the previous chapters to remember what's going on with the story.

I'm leaving on vacation in two hours, so I'm guessing that I might not be able to write until September (we'll see). I was also wondering if any of you figured out why I called this story Bulletproof Glass (besides for the fact that I love the song "Glass" by Julian Casablancas).

**Disclaimer:** _Pride and Prejudice_ belongs to Jane Austen!

**Enjoy!**

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**July 18****th****, 1942**

Lucie recalled this entire story to the Basterds, with some translating help from Wicki. She didn't bother telling them what had happened after she had passed out. She knew that the Nazis had brought her upstairs, that they had beaten her some more, and that Landa had left. That was all that she could remember anyway. She only told the men what she thought they wanted to know.

There was a short moment of silence, during which Hirschberg played with his thumbs and Aldo took the last breaths out of his cigarette. They all knew the truth about how Victor had died, but decided to let Lucie believe that he was killed by Nazis…for the moment. Finally, it was Utivich who broke the silence.

"Hey, I thought the South of France was supposed to be free. What the hell was Landa doing hunting Jews down there?"

"Eet's only a matter of time until Vichy becomes _occupé_. And Landa hunts when he wants, where he wants", explained Lucie softly.

"Well, this might just be yer chance for revenge!" started the lieutenant enthusiastically as he threw his cigarette on the floor and squished it with his foot. "What d'ya say Lucie? You gonna help us find Landa and blast his brains out or what?"

The girl looked at Donny for approval, then nodded her head to Aldo as she saw the Bear Jew grinning.

"Great!" said the leader. "And since we ain't got anythin' to do this afternoon, why don't you learn how to shoot? Utivich n' Stiglitz can teach ya, right boys?"

Utivich smiled at Lucie, while Stiglitz looked slightly less enthusiastic. It was really quite hard to tell if he hid his emotions very well or if he actually never felt anything. Despite his coldness, Hugo Stiglitz seemed like a nice person. And at least he didn't walk around with a bloody baseball bat.

The two men took Lucie further into the woods and taught her how to aim and use a handgun. They couldn't make any noise to avoid attracting attention, so Smithson and Hugo had taken the bullets out of it. It took a while for the girl to get used to the idea of holding a weapon. Carrying an object that could possibly result in taking someone's life intimidated Lucie almost as much as being threatened by one.

The three of them ended up bonding over the course of the afternoon. The language barrier was not a huge problem, as Smithson spoke a few words of French and Stiglitz turned out to be quite friendly. Lucie's reserved personality seemed to work well with theirs.

In the late afternoon, as the sun was setting behind the forest trees, Smithson and Hugo escorted Lucie back to the campsite.

"Had fun?" a familiar voice called. Donny was sitting against the front side of his tent with a book on his knees.

The well-built soldier watched as Lucie skipped back toward him and sat down with her legs crossed, sporting a dazzling smile on her face. The Bear Jew could have sworn that she actually looked happy in his presence –a rare sight. He observed her as she ran a hand through her hair, and remembered that he had to disinfect her wounds again. Donny crawled into his tent, or rather _their_ tent, and grabbed the first aid pouch. He came back out and started dabbing alcohol on just about any cuts and bruises that he could find. He was much more gentle this time than he had been the first - although he couldn't help but snicker ever time Lucie twitched as the strong liquid made contact with her damaged skin.

When he was done, he picked up his book and continued reading where he had left off. However, the same person as usual soon interrupted his activity.

"Donny?"

Lucie's gentle approach was quickly answered by a loud sigh.

"What now?" he demanded.

"I was, um, wondering if you…if you could read to me from zees book zat you have."

Lucie nervously played with her thumbs while awaiting an answer.

"If zat's okay with you…please," she added a few seconds later.

Donny grinned. Not only was he amused by her childish inquiry, but he was also glad with this opportunity to bond with Lucie and show her that he was not the caveman that she probably thought he was.

"Ya know Lucie, I'm not the best reader. And I doubt you'll understand anything I say with this accent."

But all the girl did was nod, so the Donowitz held _Pride and Prejudice_ up once more and started reading:

"_Elizabeth, having rather expected to affront him, was amazed at his gallantry; but there was a mixture of sweetness and archness in her manner which made it difficult for her to affront anybody; and Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her. He really believed, that were it not for the inferiority of her connections, he should be in some danger…"_

Donny carried on for about a half-hour, until his loud voice got sore and he stopped. To his surprise, Lucie hadn't fallen asleep beside him. She didn't look bored either. Even though the girl could barely make any meaning out of Jane Austen's old English sentences, she found them to be quite beautiful, especially read by Donny.

Before Donowitz could find the time to ask her what she thought of Elizabeth and Darcy's peculiar relationship, a southern accent called out "Dinner!" and the Basterds gathered around the fire once more.

To the Bear Jew's disappointment, Lucie took her usual spot next to Utivich, who was already starting to make her giggle. Why couldn't Donny make her laugh like that? Was he only good for sharing a tent with? Perhaps not, since Lucie had chosen _him_ to read her a story, not that foolish young private. _I'm too old for her_, he thought. _But I'm braver and stronger than Utivich'll ever be. I'm the one who's supposed to be taking care of her._

Donny slowly ate his tasteless soup, dreadfully lost in his thoughts. He could have sworn that he saw Smithson smiling at him at one point of the dinner. After all, they were more than acquaintances. As fellow soldiers, you couldn't really call the relationship that the two men had a friendship. No, it was more like a companionship, or mutual respect. Donowitz and Utivich talked about everything together, from hot girls to scalping techniques.

For the first time in months, the Bear Jew went to bed before dinner was over, leaving the other soldiers and Lucie quite surprised.

Soon after Donny had lain on his cot, he heard a quiet shuffling sound which he supposed was Lucie entering the tent. He fell asleep as she lay beside him, facing the opposite direction.

* * *

**July 19****th****, 1942**

The next morning, Lucie found herself awake before her roommate. She quickly realized that not only was Sergeant Donowitz still fast asleep, but that he had also put his hands on her hips and was closer to her body than he should have been. Not knowing exactly what to do, Lucie gave him a small push.

"Donny. Wake up, eet's, morning," she whispered.

The Bear Jew only replied with a small grunt and gripped the girl's waist a little tighter. Lucie, finding no other solution, grabbed _Pride and Prejudice_ and firmly hit the soldier on the head with it. Out of reflex, he seized her wrist and twisted it while rolling her on her back, causing Lucie to gasp in pain.

"What are you doing? Eet's me, Lucie!" she breathed desperately.

It took a few long seconds for Donny to be fully awake and to realize that he was sitting on top of the most harmless thing in the world. Her face, clearly frightened by this unexpected attack, was only inches below his. The soldier was so enthralled by Lucie's soft breathing that he forgot he was still grasping her wrists.

"Sorry, I didn't know it was you," he muttered as he stepped off of the girl, leaving her perplex. Lucie rubbed her small wrists and made sure that her eyes fell on everything but Donny. There was an uncomfortable silence until the girl asked the question for which she was dying to have an answer.

"Why were you so close?"

"You were shivering – you were cold." He paused. "Back in Boston, my brother and I used to sleep in the same bed when the winter was tough. You, know…body heat and shit. I was just trying to keep you warm, that's all," he answered shrugging his shoulders.

Extremely relieved by this response, Lucie gave an awkward smile.

"Thank you", she blushed.

Donny then helped her out of the tent and led her to the middle of their campsite, where the Basterds were gathered once more.

"Well, if it isn't our own Sleeping Beauty! What took ya so long, Donowitz? Ya out of hair gel er what?" inquired Aldo playfully as all the men laughed.

"No, sir. Lucie here just gave me a little trouble, that's all", he answered seriously, shooting dark glances at his fellow soldiers.

"Oh. Mornin' Lucie," said the lieutenant who seemed to have only just noticed her shy presence.

Once that both Donny and Lucie were settled, Raine started explaining the plan for the day's attack. They were going to hide near the road and ambush the first Nazi truck that came across their way. Then, they would interrogate their leader, and make sure that they found out Hans Landa's whereabouts.

Utivich, the somewhat more innocent looking of the bunch, was to lie across the road, pretending he was dead. Hopefully, the truck would stop and the Basterds would then be able to strike.

Lucie didn't know what to think of Aldo's plan. Perhaps he was overestimating the enemy: would a truckfull of careless Nazis really stop for a young stranger? And would the Basterds manage to ambush the truck without getting hurt?

While most of the men were loading their rifles and sharpening their knives, the lieutenant stepped up to Lucie and put his hands on his hips as though he were he father giving her an order.

"Look, girlie. I don't want you getting in no trouble. So yer gonna stay 'ere with Private Andy Kagan and help him watch over the campsite, can ya do that fer me?"

Lucie nodded gladly in approval. She didn't want to witness the Basterds violent acts, no matter how much she hated Nazis.

"Good. Now stay put."

The Basterds took off, leaving Lucie alone with Kagan, one of the soldiers to whom she had never spoken before. Andrew Kagan must have been in his late twenties. He was very tall, especially compared to Lucie, but not nearly as buff as Donny. His glossy brown eyes were rather calm and his hair was barely long enough to hide his large ears. He invited her to sit on a nearby log with him, and she did. They didn't talk for at least twenty minutes, and just sat there doing nothing, until Kagan asked her if she wanted to cook lunch. Before she could answer, Kagan ran off to Wicki's tent and came back with an armful of vegetables and loaves of bread.

Lucie smiled, happy to finally be able to put herself to good use. Cooking had never really been a hobby of hers, but her mother had taught her the basics of the art. She wondered where in the world the Basterds could have found so much food, for not only did they lack ration tickets, but they were also considered as public enemies of the state.

Kagan handed her a knife and a piece of cloth, onto which she supposed the vegetables were to be cut. The soldier quickly dropped the food on the ground and went into the tent again, this time to reappear with two casseroles. He then told Lucie that he would be right back and walked towards the river. It made the girl quite nervous to be alone, especially in an unknown forest that could be discovered by Nazis at any time. She almost counted the seconds as they passed, hoping that this would make time go by faster, until Andy returned with the two water-filled pots.

Lucie used one of the pots to wash about half of the tomatoes, turnips, carrots, onions and mushrooms, before proceeding to cutting them with Kagan's oversized knife. A few feet away from her, he was trying to start a fire that would later be used to heat the water.

Once that she was done with her slicing, the girl threw the vegetables in the second pot and watched them cook. _It's not much, but at least it's something_, she thought, imagining a group of starving men running towards their campsite.

The two companions waited a few more minutes for the rest of the Basterds to finally return. Lucie watched wide-eyed as they walked back, eager to know what they had found out. Aldo looked pretty pleased with himself. Utivich, Hirschberg and Ulmer seemed to be laughing at whatever Wicki was saying. Stiglitz was sporting his usual serious face. Donny, however, was nowhere in sight.

As Lucie had expected, the men nearly ran to sit around the campfire once they noticed that something was cooking.

"Smells good," said Hirschberg hungrily, a smile stretching across his tanned face.

"Damn right it does! Killin' Nazis makes me as starvin' as a grizzly bear!" exclaimed Aldo.

At the sound of his last word, Lucie remembered that the Bear Jew was missing. A slight tone of worry in her voice, she asked: "Où est Donny?"

"He's washin' up, but don't change the subject, darlin'. What'd you make fer us?"

The girl, who didn't want to insist on the subject of Donny's whereabouts and risk getting yelled at by a starving soldier, decided to answer him.

"Soup. Eet's not much."

Kagan helped distribute plastic bowls and spoons, and they all started eating. Perhaps it wasn't much, but the Basterds sure liked it. If a group of Nazi's were to come near their campsite at that moment, all that they would be able to hear would be the loud slurping sounds of the men.

"It's delicious, Lucie," complimented Utivich who had just finished his last spoonful. The girl blushed slightly as their eyes met, and quickly looked away.

After they had cleaned up, the Basterds decided that it was time for a nap. _Men, always killing, eating and sleeping_, thought the girl as she rolled her eyes, clearly disappointed that they hadn't told her how their hunt had went.

Suddenly, she saw a bush moving about two-dozen feet away. Too scared to think or move she stood still, her feet glued to the ground. Before Lucie could find the time to scream, she saw the tip of a baseball bat, then the whole baseball bat, and finally Donny, coming out of the bushes. She sighed loudly in relief. _Maybe I really am a little too vigilant_.

He walked up to her, his hair slightly wet from having washed up in the river.

"You okay?" he asked. "You look kinda freaked."

Lucie had no idea what his second sentence meant, and just blinked at him a few times, not knowing what to respond. She actually wondered if he was self-conscious that his shirt was wet and that he was showing off his muscular self, or if he had simply forgotten to dry himself after having bathed.

"Are you 'ungry?" she finally asked.

"_Dying_," Donny replied before rushing to whatever was left of the soup and stuffing his mouth with a piece of bread.

* * *

**End note:** Isn't it slitghtly discouraging how chapters look really long as a Word document, but look much shorter on this website? :D


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